Swedbank and SEB profits down €319 million in September
The combined profits of Estonia's two largest lenders, Swedbank and SEB, fell by nearly €319 million on year to September.
In the first nine months of 2025, Swedbank reported net profits of €191.3 million, a fall of €87.9 million, or 32 percent.
For SEB the figure was €127.3 million, a 14 percent fall (€21 million).
Swedbank
Swedbank reported its private customer loan volumes grew by 5 percent over the year to September; business customer loans by 6 percent. Deposits rose by 4 percent.
In the first nine months of the year, new loans Swedbank issued to individuals totaled €864 million, while to companies the figure was €1.1 billion.
The bank reported its revenues fell by €90 million, due to lower interest income. Net interest income fell by €82.6 million on year to September, caused by lower market interest rates and narrower loan margins.
Fee and commission income for Swedbank fell by €6.2 million because of a pricing change to service packages in the last quarter of 2024.
Other income fell by €1.6 million due to asset revaluations.
Swedbank reported expenses grew by €22.2 million on year to September 2025. The main factors behind this increase were higher personnel and support activity costs (for example, financing the Smart Future Fund), expenses related to its new headquarters in central Tallinn, and the rising cost of services purchased from the Swedbank Group. Costs and investments linked to digital solutions also rose, the bank said. Expected credit losses for the first nine months of 2025 amounted to €6.5 million, compared with €1.6 million over the same period in 2024.
SEB
SEB reported its corporate loan portfolio grew by 9.5 percent year-on-year to September. The bank's private customer loan portfolio was 7.4 percent larger than a year earlier. As of the end of September, SEB had issued loans and leases in Estonia totaling €7.5 billion, since the start of the year, of which half a billion represented growth over the past year.
Deposits from private customers rose by 6.8 percent, or more than €200 million, over the year.
SEB Pank Grupp's operating income for the first nine months amounted to €219.2 million (compared with €268.2 million in the same period of 2024), and operating expenses reached €67.1 million (up from €64.0 million in January-September 2024).
"This year the economy has become more active, and fresh forecasts indicate continued improvement in investment confidence and economic growth. SEB's annual survey of Baltic large-company CFOs shows that optimism among Estonian businesses has risen to its highest level since 2021," the bank's CEO, Allan Parik, commented.
Both banks are Scandinavian owned.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
